White Lake’s McCoy Biagioli joins Dales, Miller and Zerbel in Michigan Amateur semifinals – The Oakland Press

June 21, 2024

Lakeland High School graduate McCoy Biagioli during his play Thursday as he defeated a former Ferris teammate, Caleb Bond, and Tommy Sullivan to reach the semifinals of the 113th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland on the Heather course at The Highlands at Harbor Springs. (Photo courtesy of Golf Association of Michigan)

HARBOR SPRINGS – McCoy Biagioli of White Lake joins Jimmy Dales of Northville, Drew Miller of East Lansing and Matt Zerbel of St. Joseph in the semifinals of the 113th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland on Friday morning.

Dales, 23, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, and Miller, 18, who is staying close to home to play golf at Michigan State University in the fall, meet at 8 a.m. on the Heather course at The Highlands in Harbor Springs.

Biagioli, 18, a graduate of Lakeland High School and current golfer at Ferris State, meets Matt Zerbel, a 29-year-old produce agent, at 8:15 a.m.

The winners of these matches will meet in the final at around 12:30 p.m. and will be particularly motivated.

In addition to the honor and accomplishment of becoming Michigan Amateur Champion and having his name added to the historic Staghorn Trophy, the winner will also receive, for the first time, a free ticket to the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship, which will be held August 12-18 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.

Dales, who is in the semifinals for the second year in a row, said the chance to secure a spot in the U.S. Amateurs without qualifying was part of his motivation to remain an amateur this summer before turning professional.

“And this is also one of my favorite tournaments in one of my favorite places,” he said. “It feels great to be back here. Last year I obviously didn’t get the results I wanted and it’s nice to have a good run again this year.”

Dales earned their way into the semifinals this year by defeating Lake Orion golfer Drew Coble of Grand Valley State University 4 and 3 in the morning round of 16 and then defeated Traverse City golfer Shea Harmeson of Saginaw Valley State University 3 and 1 in the quarterfinals.

“I played against two really good players and played good matches,” Dales said. “I didn’t make any bogeys today, so I made it pretty tough for them and kept the pressure on.”

Miller, who is playing in the Michigan Amateur for the first time, said he wants to compete in the championship and top the best performance of his father, Kevin, who reached the quarterfinals at the University of Michigan in 1997. Ironically, his father, who is his caddie this week, also won a Michigan Amateur stroke play medal on the Heather course in 1998.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “My dad never made it past the Elite Eight, so it means a lot to me that I was able to outdo him.”

Miller secured his spot in the semifinals with a 2 and 1 win in the round of 16 over Jack Zubkus of Ada, an Oakland University golfer who transferred to him from Penn State University, and then defeated Adam Burghardt, a Wayne State University golfer from Clinton Township, 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals.

“I played really solid golf this afternoon and this morning,” he said. “I just didn’t make a lot of mistakes and didn’t give the guys chances. I didn’t do anything crazy. I just stuck to my game plan and knew if I did that, I could win my games.”

Biagioli, who is also playing in the Michigan Amateur for the first time, had to beat a former Ferris teammate, Caleb Bond of Williamston, in the round of 16, and it wasn’t easy. In fact, he needed 26 holes, eight extra holes, one short of the Michigan Amateur record for extra-hole matches, before defeating Bond, now a Michigan State golfer, 1-up.

He then faced Tommy Sullivan of Grosse Pointe, a recent Michigan State University recruit, in the quarterfinals and said his putter was great in the 6-5 win.

“Let’s see, I played 39 holes today and made 12 birdies,” he said. “Today it was the putter, but I also didn’t miss many greens and created a lot of good opportunities (for birdies). The match with Caleb was so tough. In the eight extra holes, Caleb was 2 under par and I was 3 under par and neither of us made a bogey. It was really fun. Caleb was a teammate. We both played great and I was lucky to win.”

Biagioli said this was already his greatest achievement as an amateur, but he did not want to stop now.

“The goal is to win,” he said. “I’m not surprised with how I hit the ball and putted, but mentally I was surprised. I got through 26 holes, then moved on to the next match and mentally focused on that.”

Zerbel, the 2023 GAM Mid-Amateur champion, reached the quarterfinals a year ago and returned this year with the belief that he can win the championship.

“I believe that if I play well, I can win. That was my goal. But I wouldn’t be disappointed if it ended here,” he said. “It’s really hard to get to the last four, but now that I’m here, I want to keep going. And if I play well, I have that chance.”

Zerbel faced the youngest player in the field, 15-year-old JP Levan of Grand Rapids, in the round of 16 and won 3 and 1. He then beat Chet VandenBerg of Portage 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals.

“Last week my riding wasn’t good, but I figured out what was going on and this week I’ve been riding pretty well,” he said. “No crazy failures so far and that’s helped me a lot.”

Zerbel said winning the Mid-Amateurs last year was his greatest golf accomplishment, but he is ready to top it.

“To win that and get the exemption for the U.S. Championship would be very special,” he said.